Rise and Shine

Shoot Fast, Think FasterRise & Shine is a true "think and gun" that combines elements of arcade shooters, bullet hells, and puzzle platformers to create a new blend of strategy and viscera. Switch between Shine's add-ons to solve puzzles that redefine what bullets can do. Guide projectiles through intricate mazes, electrify damaged equipment to discover new pathways, and juggle 8-bit fruit because why not?

Get Ready to Respawn

Don't let the cute character models fool you, saving Gamearth won't be easy. Prepare to dash flurries of missiles and avoid unseen traps as you fight to prevent its destruction. It's going to take all you've got to stay alive in the face of lethal robot armadas, enormous bosses, giant death wheels, and (of course) brainthirsty zombies. You're not gettin' through this in one piece, kiddo.

Next Level Detail

Enter a world where every level is a single, continuous work of art. Each level is composed of hand drawn illustrations with multiple parallax scroll layers so every forward step is new; no tiling or repeated elements. This meticulous attention to detail allows each frame to flow seamlessly from one to the next, a quality you'll wish you had on your 20th respawn.

Regardless of its few flaws, Rise and Shine is a fun, vibrant arcade shooter that should please fans of the genre and remain accessible enough for newcomers. Its light-hearted approach, humour and gunplay make for a enjoyable fast paced experience that is filled with smirks.

Influenced by adventure-platform games of the past, Rise & Shine manages to enrich a classic gameplay formula with a tight mix of different genres, interesting combat depth, and varied puzzles. Shooting controls can be a bit uncomfortable on a gamepad, but this is the only gripe in a game that's objectively very well put together. Highly recommended to fans of Another World and Flashback as well as to those looking for a quirky and fun experience that doesn't overstay its welcome.

Rise & Shine is a good action-platformer though its main shortcoming is how short the game can be. Once you get the hang of things the game can be finished in a few hours, but if you’re looking for a challenge the game’s difficulty spikes about a third of the way in and it just gets harder from there. If you're up for a challenge, this is one to check out.

Rise & Shine mix effectively classical mechanics from past arcade shooters, platform and puzzle games. It may affect the pace of the game, but manages to reach their goal on the basis of respawn and infinite lives.

Despite its short duration, Rise & Shine is a remarkable indie action/shooter. Don't be misled from the beautiful graphics however, since it offers a brutal challenge and surely it is not appropriate for the impatient gamers.

Rise & Shine really shines for some time, with an inspiring mix of puzzle and classic action, while delivering awesome 2d graphic design. Unfortunately, the short length and brutal difficulty peaks prevent it from reaching the heights it might had achieved.

Rise and Shine is visually solid and the gunplay is brutal. But the fact that it tries to combine many elements of action platformer games into one product actually makes it slow-paced and repetitive.

CD-Action

The game looks amazing and is overall very charming, but it seems it lost half of its content along the way, because it ends before it manages to fulfill its potential. I also felt that the designers couldn’t agree on how combat should play out, so it got stuck somewhere between tactical and frenetic. [03/2017, p.62]

Rise & Shine is always beautiful and sometimes funny, but most certainly tiresome. Proper balancing of the difficulty level to make every moment satisfying is not an easy task and the developers from Super Mega Team mostly failed in this regard.

Rise & Shine is a run and gun 2D shooter that struggles to find its footing in game play and tone. Small issues can be found throughout the experience, but the difficulty and level design, in both variety and beauty, makes the experience worth a few hours of your time.

In a different era we would gladly pay some quarters to play for a couple of times in an arcade machine. In this era though Rise & Shine is quite forgettable. It may have one interesting gimmick, found in the manipulation of bullets, but it’s seriously underused and is combined with mediocre action, save for two well-crafter boss fights.

At its best, Rise and Shine is a marvelous reinvention of shooter mechanics wrapped up in puzzle-heavy stages that require some serious grey matter to think through. But most of the time? Rise and Shine’s charm can’t save it from its sadomasochistic formula.

Rise & Shine has a lot of interesting ideas to keep players on their toes. It’s just a shame that some of the fun turns sour due to repeated puzzles and poor gun accuracy.

LEVEL (Czech Republic)

At first sight gorgeous and sophisticated platformer game, then you realize half of the game is made by unfair and frustrating gameplay. Although it lasts only three hours, you will get angry like it was a much longer title. [Issue #271]

Rise & Shine's cute look lulls you into thinking that this is going to be an awesome game. Hand-drawn backgrounds and characters look great, the animation is smooth, and the attention to detail is everywhere. But the controls are insufferable: it's difficult to target your enemies while playing on gamepad, and good luck dashing and jumping with a keyboard.

When it comes down to it, Rise & Shine is unable to create an engaging experience by itself, with mechanics that are not utilized to the best extent. Worse, the game feels like a chore to play, as I felt that I had to rely predominantly on luck in order to advance through much of the game. For all the strength of its graphics and introductory stages, Rise & Shine is unable to create a compelling experience worth playing.

The graphics make you think the gameplay cake is real, but the cake is a lie. All you'll find are Flappy Birds, a dead Princess Peach, and Marcus Fenix. But hey, at least you can kill the Duck Hunt dog, so that has to count for something. Oh, and this is the Dark Souls of video game humor. Take that for what you will.